Ship fenders



Oct. 12, 1965 M. K. FOSS 3,2

SHIP FENDERS Filed Feb. 7, 1964 United States Patent 3,211,123 SHIP FENDERS Milton Karheim Foss, 22631 Draille Drive, Torrance, Calif. File'd Feb. 7, 1964, Ser. No. 343,198 6 Claims. (Cl. 114219) My invention relates to ship fenders, and more particularly the invention pertains to an economically produced and efficient fender, adapted to operate as protective fenders for ocean-going ships when passing through narrow waterways or lock systems, wherein damage can occur by contact with the sides of lock gates or waterway borders.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a new and improved fender, comprising a longitudinal roll of sheeted impact-absorbent material adapted to act as a protective fender for ocean-going ships.

Another object is to provide a new and improved fender comprising a longitudinal roll of sheeted material, coated or impregnated with a water insoluble plastic compound adapted to absorb the incident energy of impact when acting as a protective fender for ships.

A further object of this invention is to provide a ship fender of the type described, whereby excessive abrasion or tearing damage to the exterior layer of the longitudinal roll in contact with a wall or lock gate side, results only in the said layer tearing off and exposing a fresh layer to absorb further impact or abrasive wear.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a ship fender of the type described, and conforming to the requirements of most seaway, canal and lock authorities, whereby ship fenders when torn from the ships side, must float, in order that said loose fenders may be retrieved from the water before jamming or otherwise damaging lock gates or like canal or seaway apparatus.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a ship fender of the type described, having a simplified, economically produced, readily operated construction, and a maximum efliciency.

The various objects and features of this invention will be fully understood from the following detailed description of the typical preferred form and application thereof, throughout which description reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an illustrattion of a ship floating adjacent to an abutment such as a dock or the like and with the fender of the present invention disposed therebetween. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the fender, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the fender taken as indicated by line 3-3 on FIG. 2.

A roll of cellulosic sheeted fiber is impregnated with a plastic material to provide a waterproof, impact-absorbing material.

The impregnated fibrous sheet is formed into longitudinal rolls R of general dimensions three feet long by twelve to eighteen inches diameter, and comprising approximately 90 turns on a twelve inch diameter roll.

The longitudinal roll is formed with a central hollow core or cavity 11 of one to two inches diameter, or may be formed on a tubular member of pressed paper or of metal, to lessen interior Wear imposed by the supporting cables.

The ship fender as described is used in the normal nautical manner, by passing a wire cable 12 through the hollow center of the longitudinal roll, and suspending the fender over the ships side, attaching aboard the ends of the cable by means of the normal clips or shackles to stanchion, bit, pad-eye, or bollard, the fender hanging in the bight of the cable over the ships side.

Ship fenders of the type described, when suspended over the side of the ship during its passage through lock gates 3,211,123 Patented Oct. 12, 1965 or like narrow waterways, frequently make inadvertent contact with concrete walls W, buttresses or like impediments, and this is particularly hazardous for broad-beam vessels, and unless the ship is properly fendered it is apt to suffer considerable damage to bow and sides.

The normal or conventional fender in present use is a block or log of wood, through which a longitudinal hole is bored to receive a suspended cable; such fenders are inefficient, are not sufliciently resilient to absorb shock, and splinter and break away after a few impacts.

Rope fenders also are not eflicient, are subject to tearing, and to grabbing onto rough surfaces, and are outlawed, as are rubber fenders because of their inability to float when broken loose from the ships side.

Ship fenders of the type described in this application, when suspended over the sides of a vessel, readily absorb impact when inadvertent contact is made with walls, pilings, buttresses or like waterway impediments without damage to the vessels hull, and the severe abrasion to the fenders caused by the momentum of the vessel against fixed surfaces results only in a peeling otf of the exterior layer of the fender when it is cut through.

This ablative, or onion skin effect, results in the presentation of a fresh layer or turn of the fender material to further impact or abrasion damage, and is repeated as each subsequent layer or turn breaks loose repeatedly until the fender is rendered ineffective.

The advantage of the ablative or onion skin peeling effect is, the laminae or turns constituting the longitudinal roll collectively absorb the incident energy of impact, and the exposed or outer layer resists, until it is torn through by the thermal and mechanical effect caused by moving abrasive contact with fixed surfaces.

To illustrate the efficiency and economic value of my invention, tests were made on a four hundred and sixty foot long, ten thousand ton, sixty-three foot beam cargo ship passing through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway system. The ship suffered severe: damage to bow and hull when using Wood fenders; such wood fenders splintering and breaking free, necessitating considerable replacement. This difliculty applies to all large ships on this particular seaway system.

With the substitution of the wooden fenders by fenders constructed according to my invention, .no damage was occasioned to bow or hull and the longevity of the improved fenders was at least twelve to one against the conventional Wooden fenders. Furthermore, when an improved fender did break loose, it floated and was easily recovered.

According to my invention, the sheet material 10 comprising the roll R or fender may be prepared by impregnating the watery pulp of a celluloisic material as beaten rags, wood pulp, or like cellulosic fibers, or mineral fibers such as asbestos, or mixtures of various cellulosic and mineral fibers, with an emulsion of a plastic compound, followed by dehydrating and forming the material into continuous sheet. Alternately, the wood pulp or like sheet material may be saturated, or coated, with the plastic impregnant, during or following the sheeting operation.

The impregnant may consist of natural mineral pitches, such as asphalt, petrolene, elaterite, pine tar, or emulsions such as cumarone resin and a saponified resin, or compounds of phenolic or resorcinol origin, natural rosins, or the crude rosin soaps obtained from the residual black liquor resulting from the alkaline digestion of cellulosic materials, or like low-cost plastic impregnants, the im pregnants applied only in sufiicient addition to render the sheeted pulp waterproof, and to provide flexibility and body to the fibers.

Artificial pitches obtained as residues from the distillation of asphaltic and mixed base crude oils, or compounds as a lignin-sulphonic acid, may also be used, or like materials that will provide a waterproof, bodied, and flexible, impregnated, cellulosic sheeted material 10.

I have specified certain materials as entering into the composition of the sheet and the impregnant. It is, of course, apparent that equivalent substances may be substituted. For example, for the natural pitches, certain hardening condensates of cresol formaldehyde resins, phenol furfural, other furfural resins or other types of synthetic resins that will impart waterproofness, maintain flexibility in the cellulosic sheet, and provide a bodied, buoyant protective fender when constructed in a roll of longitudinal shape and consisting of multiple turns, as described.

The dried and sheeted length of impregnated pulp is wound and cut into rolls R of a general longitudinal length of three feet, comprising approximately a multiple of from 90 to 100 complete turns to provide a compactly wound roll of approximately twelve inches diameter, a hollow core of from one to two inches is maintained throughout the center of the roll R.

The impregnated sheeted material may also be wound onto a heavy cardboard or a metal tube 15, to better support a wire cable, or hawser on which the roll is to be suspended.

The dimensions of the ship fenders may be altered to suit smaller or larger ships.

According to my invention, the difficulties occasioned in the use of conventional fenders by deep-sea vessels in transit through narrow waterways are eliminated by the construction described herein for improved ship fenders, this new and novel method producing extremely impact-absorbent, waterproof and floatable fenders, capable of withstanding a high lateral pressure, in a less expensive manner than heretofore.

While I have described a satisfactory embodiment of my improvement in ship fenders, my features of invention are capable of extended application, and I do not wish to be restricted to the precise details herein set forth; therefore, I hold myself entitled to make such changes therefrom as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of what I claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A ship fender comprising, a fibrous and flexible ma terial in sheeted form impregnated with a waterproof irn pregnant, and said fibrous material formed into a longitu dinal roll of a plurality of tightly wound adherent turns, the plurality of turns providing an ablative onion skin peeling effect, whereby each consecutive turn is abraded and torn away in succession when subjected to the compressive and side shearing stresses as caused by impacts between the ship and an opposing wall.

2. A ship fender comprising, a fibrous and flexible water buoyant material in sheeted form impregnated with a waterproof impregnant, and said fibrous material formed into a longitudinal roll of a plurality of tightly wound adherent turns, the plurality of turns providing an ablative onion skin peeling effect, whereby each consecutive turn is abraded and torn away in succession when subjected to the compressive and side shearing stresses as caused by impacts when floating between the ship and an opposing wall.

3. A ship fender comprising a fibrous and flexible material in sheeted form impregnated with a waterproof impregnant, and said fibrous material formed into a longitu dinal roll of a plurality of tightly wound adherent turns: wrapped around a central cylindrical core, the plurality of turns providing an ablative onion skin peeling effect, whereby the roll is of elongated cylindrical form and whereby each consecutive turn is abraded and torn away in succession when subjected to the compressive and side shearing stresses as caused by impacts between the ship and an opposing wall.

4. A ship fender comprising, a fibrous and flexible water buoyant material in sheeted form impregnated with a waterproof impregnant, and said fibrous material formed into a longitudinal roll of a plurality of tightly wound adherent turns wrapped around a central cylindrical core, the plurality of turns providing an ablative onion skin peeling effect, whereby the roll is of elongated cylindrical form and whereby each consecutive turn is abraded and torn away in succession when subjected to the compressive and side shearing stresses as caused by impacts when floating between the ship and an opposing wall.

5. A ship fender comprising, a fibrous and flexible material in sheeted form impregnated with a waterproof impregnant, and said fibrous material formed into a longitudinal roll of a plurality of tightly wound adherent turns wrapped around a central tubular and cylindrical core through which a suspension cable and the like is to be passed, the plurality of turns providing an ablative onion skin peeling effect, whereby the roll is of elongated cylindrical form and whereby each consecutive turn is abraded and torn away in succession when subjected to the compressive and side shearing stresses as caused by impacts between the ship and an opposing wall.

6. A ship fender comprising, a fibrous and flexible water buoyant material in sheeted form impregnated with a waterproof impregnant, and said fibrous material formed into a longitudinal roll of a plurality of tightly wound adherent turns wrapped around a central tubular and cylindrical core through which a suspension cable and the like is to be passed, the plurality of turns providmg an ablative onion skin peeling effect, whereby the roll is of elongated cylindrical form and whereby each consecutive turn is abraded and torn away in succession when subjected to the compressive and side shearing stresses as caused by impacts when floating between the ship and an opposing wall.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 230,148 7/80 Page 117-158 1,956,045 4/34 Richter -1 117-158 2,078,727 4/37 Jackson 117-158 2,577,236 12/51 Doherty 114-219 2,718,479 9/55 Bierly 117-158 2,721,146 10/55 Hardman 117-158 2,753,829 7/56 Agra 114-219 2,801,937 8/57 Hess 117-158 2,893,720 7/59 Bair 114-219 3,002,879 10/61 Johnston 117-158 FOREIGN PATENTS 551,153 2/43 Great Britain. 1,132,395 6/62 Germany.

FERGUS S. MIDDLETON, Primary Examiner. 

1. A SHIP FENDER COMPRISING, A FIBROUS AND FLEXIBLE MA TERIAL IN SHEETED FORM IMPREGNATED WITH A WATERPROOF IM PREGNAT, ANS SAID FIRBROUS MATERIAL FORMED INTO A LONGITUDINAL ROLL OF A PLURALITY OF TIGHTLY WOUNDED ADHERTENT TURNS, THE PLURALITY OF TURNS PROVIDING AN ABLATIVE UNION SKIN PEELING EFFECT, WHEREBY EACH CONSECUTIVE TURN IS ABRAGED 